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. 2022 Feb 23;16(2):e0010078.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010078. eCollection 2022 Feb.

Molecular epidemiology and microbiological characteristics of Cryptococcus gattii VGII isolates from China

Affiliations

Molecular epidemiology and microbiological characteristics of Cryptococcus gattii VGII isolates from China

Xuelei Zang et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Cryptococcus gattii (C. gattii) is a fungal pathogen that once caused an outbreak of cryptococcosis on Vancouver Island, and had spread worldwide, while few data were available in China. In this study, seven clinical isolates of C. gattii VGII were collected from 19 hospitals, Multi-locus Sequence Typing (MLST) analysis and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed, combined with published data for phylogenetic analysis. In addition, in vitro antifungal susceptibility testing, phenotypic analysis, and in vivo virulence studies were performed, subsequently, histopathological analysis of lung tissue was performed. C.gattii VGII infected patients were mainly immunocompetent male, and most of them had symptoms of central nervous system (CNS) involvement. MLST results showed that isolates from China exhibited high genetic diversity, and sequence type (ST) 7 was the major ST among the isolates. Some clinical isolates showed a close phylogenetic relationship with strains from Australia and South America. All clinical isolates did not show resistance to antifungal drugs. In addition, there was no correlation between virulence factors (temperature, melanin production, and capsule size) and virulence while in vivo experiments showed significant differences in virulence among strains. Lung fungal burden and damage to lung tissue correlated with virulence, and degree of damage to lung tissue in mice may highlight differences in virulence. Our work seeks to provide useful data for molecular epidemiology, antifungal susceptibility, and virulence differences of C. gattii VGII in China.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Phylogram based on MLST showing the genetic relationships between the C.gattii VGII isolates in the present study and another 16 isolates reported[–19], and two clones isolate (R265, R272).
Fig 2
Fig 2. Phylogram based on WGS showing the genetic relationships between the C.gattii VGII isolates in the present study and global isolates from the database.
Fig 3
Fig 3
(A) Visual analysis of isolates growing in agar-based YPD medium at 37°C and 39°C for three days, and melanin production after isolates growth in minimal medium with L-DOPA at 30°C for three days. (B)Morphology of the C.gattii VGII isolates staining with India ink under light microscopy. (C)Capsule size was measured for 20 cells of C.gattii VGII isolates. Error bars indicating SD.
Fig 4
Fig 4. In vivo murine inhalation model.
(A) (B) Fourteen days post-infection, lung and brain fungal burden of mice infected with isolates (Five mice in each isolate). (C) Survival curves of mice infected with isolates (Ten mice in each isolate). (D)The virulent strains (R265, G1, G10, and G14), the less virulent strains (R272, G13, G17, and G26) were grouped and analyzed lung fungal burden difference between the two groups. Error bars indicating SD, *** < 0.001.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Fourteen days post-infection and end of the experiment H&E staining of the lungs of mice infected with virulent strains and less virulent strains, the images were captured by microscope (×ばつ20, ×ばつ100), respectively.

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